Advancements in prosthetics limb technology allow feeling, control | 60 Minutes
We don’t often think about how the sense of touch makes our lives possible. We grip a paper coffee cup with perfect force to hold it but not crush it. Our feet always find the floor. But for people with artificial limbs, or those with spinal injuries, the loss of touch can put the world beyond their grasp. Seventeen years ago, the Defense Department launched a $100 million projects to revolutionize prosthetic limbs. The robotics you’re about to see is amazing- but as we first reported earlier this year, even more remarkable is how the ‘feeling of feeling’ is returning to people like Brandon Prestwood.
Brandon Prestwood: For me, it was, it’s a battle if I wanted to live or die.
Scott Pelley: You weren’t sure you wanted to live?
Brandon Prestwood: No. I didn’t know if I wanted to or not.
Brandon Prestwood’s battle began with the loss of